einar4
09-11-2007, 03:53 AM
<p><i>Something for my friends that sail on the Fatal Jest *smiles*</i></p><p><i>================================================== =========================</i></p><p> In the black hours before morning that night, the tide was on the turn. A templar stood on the quarterdeck of her ship, gazing thoughtfully through the gnomish spyglass at the brig blocking the narrow inlet. She bit her lip as she waited, watching. Soon it would be dawn, the winds that could carry them to safety would soon abate and their chance to break past the harbor patrols would be lost. She softly bemoaned their bad luck, getting themselves trapped in a tiny inlet while the militia vessel stubbornly waited. In the morning the Freeport ship would send search parties of their enforcers, and their numbers would overwhelm her crew and take her ship. She lowered the glass and bit her lip, turning her head to meet the eyes of the steersman as he waited, hands never leaving the wheel. She turned her eyes to her other side at the bosun, also looking through his glass at the brig. Furrowing her brow, the two raised their glasses to their eyes again. "Blacktoes could have just burned the ship, and we could have escaped," the soft voice of the bosun spoke as he peered at the distant frigate, seeing the lazy movement of the men on watch, appearing as an amorphous shadow in constant flux on the deck of the ship." She sighed, still looking through the spyglass as she spoke, "I am not a murderess or a pirate, sir. I have explained this. If there is a way to escape to sea without wiping out a crew of pressed sailors, then I will choose it... even if it's risky." She took the edge off her words with a smile, "It will work... now go make sure we are ready to make sail instantly, Mister Barlowe, we'll have little time when..." "Aye, cap'n," said the bosun, and dropped down onto the deck. As he softly gave orders she could hear the whispers echoing across the deck and below as they were relayed throughout the ship. =========================== The jolly boat cut through the water slowly as the three souls looked at each other and the brig drew closer. The Feir'dal, Luthiel, carefully worked the oars, breaking the water carefully with each stroke to keep the noise of their passage silent as they moved close. He glanced up nervously, grateful that Drinal had decided to keep herself hidden that night, but suspicious of the fickle nature of the universe. He looked down again, looking at the redheaded Koada'dal, the dirge Talula, and grinned playfully. "Ready for your performance, nightingale?" She smiled back, "As ready as you are for yours. Now remember, boys, I'll be whistling a song after things break. You'll have to follow the notes and find me quickly before they do, or the song I will sing tonight will be the unhappiest of all I have sung..." "Let them get you? You know me better than that," he laughed softly, "Just don't over do it when then haul you in, little fish." "And you know _me_ better than that!" With a silvery laugh she suddenly drew herself up to sit on the gunn'l, and then dropped backwards with a lithe twist of her body, disappearing under the water. After she disappeared under the surface, Luthiel resumed rowing towards the ship and grinned at the halfling that was holding onto the large sealed crate sitting on the floor of the small boat, "Well, Blacktoes... what's your feeling? Still thinking they won't fall for it?" "My feeling is that I should have had a second pie and a fifth ale before we left," the halfling growled. "I am never at my best when my stomach is empty and I am thirsty. If you had let me burn that ship, we could have been on our way and warming our insides with a tot of rum and a warm pie while our friends," nodding at the frigate, "were warming their feet on a burning deck." "Ah come now," said the Feir'dal with a merry chuckle, "Where is the fun in that? You know our captain would have nothing of that. Most of those men are just doing as they're told anyway..." "There is no fun at all in going without my supper and a nightcap!" growled Blacktoes again, taking a slow draw from his church warden pipe and bending over to blow the smoke into a small hole in the side of the crate he held on to. The others were quite fond of the stout wizard, but they knew how grumpy he could be when without his supper (And when he was unable to set things alight with his spells!). =========================== Arne and Feygir were playing cards when they heard the sound. Thankfully, the enforcers were below, snoozing and drinking, closed off from the crewmen in their private cabin aft. The crew could enjoy a rare moment of peace and a nice game of cards by the tiny light of the lanterns on deck. The sounds drifted up through the scuppers, causing them to look around. "He-blug.. Help!" Looking at each other with a puzzled look, Arne spoke first, "Hey... did you .." "Yes, I heard it... a woman's voice... but..." "Overboard, in the water!" Arne called out to the others on deck with a laugh, "Hey you lot, get over here and help us with this fish!" The men scrambled to throw lines down, a couple of the topsmen sliding down the lines to take hold of Talula, pulling the thoroughly soaked and gasping koada'dal onto the deck to collapse in a heap on her bottom, sputtering slightly he she looked up at her "rescuers." It was the moment where she knew her every skill counted, else her life would be forfeit in a very very unpleasant way. Her voice musical as she spoke, letting all the magic and skill of her song trill from her lips and throat, "Thank you boys, that was a close one, I thought I was a goner... that will teach me to dance around on the admiral's quarterdeck while performing for him..." The response was a relief, and not a little gratifying to the minstrel's ears and ego, "Hey, it's Talula," said one of the sailors, "I've seen her at the Blood Haze..." "Admiral? The Admiral? Here we only get rum, those lubbers on the flagship get sung to!" "Who? Is the Admiral coming here?" "Hey! Sing us a song, it's the least you could do," exclaimed a voice she recognized. She looked up to the back of the gathered group of men, a bit startled at first. She then spotted Luthiel, his face half hidden by his cloak... she sighed inwardly with relief. He had made it on deck amidst the bustle of her "rescue." With a barely perceptible wink to her "shil," she stood and ran her fingers through her soaked hair, laughing with a silvery laugh, "Well, I can't exactly say I'm at my best tonight, but I'll try," and she began to sing, moving with slow and sensual grace across the deck, making sure to catch the eyes of all the men, her mind and focus straining to keep them captivated and docile. She had no desire to make them _too_ enthusiastic in their fascination. Luthiel watched backing away from the small crowd to the ratlines, making himself blend in as he appeared to be going about the business of the watch. As he moved near to the cargo winch, barely noticable was he when he lowered the block and tackle over the side of the ship to be caught by the halfling in the boat below. He paused as Blacktoes worked in the jollyboat below, his eyes transfixed by the dirge, captivated by more than her performance. Suddenly he shook his head, growling to himself, "A fine mess that would be, if you let yourself get caught up like the rest of these men." Looking down, he saw the halfling raise a thumb, and he pulled at the hoist lines, pausing again to watch the dirge as she sang. She met his eye and gave him a look he knew too well, a look that said, "Get busy!" He turned back to the lines and pulled, hoping her song would mask the sounds of the pulley's wheel. =========================== She sang, she danced, her graceful movements moving around the men as she watched them. She saw as their captivation slowly gave way to their lust as the restlessness from being on board for so long began to make itself felt. Her song was coming to a close and she began to glance restlessly at where Luthiel busied himself. "Come on honey," she thought to herself with growing trepidation as the end of her song drew close, "Don't leave me hanging, I really don't want to perform an encore tonight..." =========================== Luthiel drew a dagger from his belt, holding the weapon by the blade while getting a feel for the wind and the gentle heave of the boat as he gazed up at the cargo winch. He suddenly realized Blacktoes was beside him. "Don't miss," grumbled the halfling. "Have I ever?" said Luthiel, drawing his arm back as he prepared to throw, waiting for the apex of the pendulous rocking of the ship for his throw. If Luthiel heard the halfling's answer, he paid no heed as he swung his arm forward smoothly, the throwing dagger leaving his his hand and flying up to embed itself in the pulley wheel with a solid "thunk," missing the rope itself by a quarter inch. The sound broke the spell, several of the men turned to the sound, Talula's song came to an end. It was a tableau as several of the men narrowed their eyes at the feir'dal and the halfling. "You missed!" said the halfling, raising his hands to let loose one of his spells. "I didn't... no!" growling and jumping overboard with Blacktoes before the halfling wizard could cast his spell. Talula was still on the deck with the crew. "Lookout!" yelled one of the men as the winch broke apart with a screech of protest, the two large crates that had been poised above the deck falling to the ground as the hoist lines snapped free from the boom. The crew watched the crates fall, as though in slow motion, while the dirge suddenly came to her senses and quickly dived over the side of the boat, just as Luthiel and Blacktoes themselves leapt over the side. The crew heaved a collective sigh of relief as the crates crashed to the deck, shattering harmlessly into splinters of wood and paper with a loud crunching sound, a few chuckles of laughter as they looked around for the interlopers, The sound of cutlasses being slowly drawn could be heard while others were pulling belaying pins from their mounts on the railings of the gunwales. The sounds of their preparation and relieved laughter was gradually replaced with a sound unlike any that had been heard on that ship before. A low hum, changing in pitch and timbre, slowly growing louder. It may have not have been the bosun's mate that first noticed it, but it was he that first gave voice to the puzzlement of the crew just as the enforcers burst onto the deck, "Wait.. what is that noise?" It was at that point that the bees began to light upon the necks and faces of the men. The small insects had been most annoyed to be closed off in the make-shift hive with their queen for the long sea journey, and somewhat angry that the halfling wizard had been using the smoke of some foul weed to irritate them further. But the sudden shattering of their nest was simply too much to ignore, and with the instinct of a hive-mind, the workers set about the task of defense, pushing their stingers into any soft tissue they could light upon, perhaps drawn to the heat, or perhaps simply landing on whatever was near and choosing by chance the men gathered around the remains of their home. The crewmen and enforcers alike, as one, and with the same singleminded purpose, leapt into the water to escape the stings of the rancorous insects without logic or forethought. =========================== Talula felt the cold waters engulf her as she swung off the main deck and dove into the water, swimming towards shore just below the water to remain unseen. Every few meters she would let her head break the surface to breath and to let out a soft trilling whistle over a wide range, hoping her friends could hear her. Presently as her head broke the surface she felt a hand grasping her hair tightly, "Ouch! Hey!" She knew Luthiel could be rough but this was - The militia enforcer pulled her into the longboat and tossed her unceremoniously at his feet with a laugh. She scrambled to sit up, stopped suddenly at the sight and the cold touch of the blade against her neck. "Well, aren't you the clever one. I think you owe us all an apology, perhaps a kiss for the gunner's daughter as well," he laughed, nodding to the oarsman behind her, "Back to the ship." She narrowed her eyes, gauging her chances as she tensed, shifting her weight, then her eyes widened as the man's head seemed to erupt into flames. As he screamed in pain she kicked out with both of her feet against the militiaman's abdomen, sending him over the side, the man's armor pulling him under the waters quickly. She twisted quickly to face the oarsman - Only to find him slumped over, the handle of a throwing dagger protruding from his neck. She breathed a sigh of relief on hearing the sound of Luthiel's voice, "I didn't miss that time..." "Neither did I," chortled the halfling. "He lit up quite well, don't you think?" She laughed, seeing the two in the jollyboat only a few meters away, and lightly sprang from the militia longboat to land lightly in the other boat, "It took you two long enough to find me." Without a word, Luthiel grinned and set oars to water again, quickly rowing them back to shore. The jollyboat disappeared into the black hours of dawn. They looked anxiously on as they saw the Fatal Jest quickly skimming past the Militiaman and out to open sea. "Well," Talula said presently, "Looks like we are stuck in Freeport for a while, boys, at least until things quiet down and we can meet up with Captain Ainthe again." "It's better than being stuck in Qeynos, and I am hungry and I have a thirst that could dry up the Lazy Drain." "Mmm I know a place..." said Luthiel, smiling at the thought. =========================== As Ainthe watched the shadows and blurs, the telltales of the men leaping off the deck of the brig, she could not help but laugh softly. She snapped the glass shut with her hands and waved a signal down to the boatswain, "Time to go, Bosun... shall we?" "Thank the gods!" The boatswain growled as he turned with an oath and began shouting orders, the tension of the waiting finally broken. The men scampered up the ratlines and quickly loosed the sails, bringing the Fatal Jest to full sail. The fore and aft rigged sheets quickly filled as the wind caught them, heaving the ship to as it began to make headway. The sleek ship slid out of the secluded cove and into the narrow inlet. It skimmed quickly past the brig while the brig's crew scrambled to climb back on board amidst the angry shouts of the enforcers and a scattering of arrows landed on the deck around them. As the wind washed over her face, her fast ship moving quickly now, Ainthe closed her eyes with a sigh of relief, leaning back against the rail. They couldn't catch them now. The voice of the boatswain broke in upon her moment of exhileration. "What about... " "Oh, they know what to do... we will see them soon," she laughed softly. Those three could take care of themselves, she had more sympathy for Freeport, judging by what she just saw. The Fatal Jest broke out of the inlet, the morning light peeking over the horizon as the brisk winds pulled them out to sea. </p>